Principal Sir Arthur Currie and the Department of Chinese Studies at McGill

Principal Sir Arthur Currie and the Department of Chinese Studies at McGill

Abstract

The author presents a brief history of the Department of Chinese Studies at McGill University. She examines Principal Arthur Currie's tireless efforts to create such a department, and discusses various factors — such as the state of international relations in the 1920s and the establishment of McGill's Gest Chinese Library — which motivated him. She describes Currie's search for a Director, his selection in 1930 of Chinese political activist Dr. Kiang Kang-hu (1883-1954) for the position, the Department's years of operation, and its eventual closure in 1934. Sir Arthur Currie (1875-1933) was Principal of McGill University from 1920 to 1933.